Saturday, 20 May 2017

TURKEY NEWS 2 FROM FIZZFAN

Continuing on from Turkey News 1, Fizzfan again sends us her impressions and photos of her Turkish holiday

And as expected there were lots of moggies n doggies etc that were very friendly too which I loved and rewarded with lots of leftovers, although I did find out moggies definitely do not like curried chicken even if you take the sauce off!

One of my strangest and most lasting memories of Turkey is what I came to refer to as my Allah Alarm call.

Every day at 5.00 am and 5.00 pm the 'call to prayer' would be aired and I found it oddly hypnotic and rather beautiful. Here's a link if you'd like a listen. I actually found it so soothing I think they should air it at bedtime!

Sadly because of the troubles in the Middle East their tourism trade has been very badly affected which is such a shame because the country and the people are both very beautiful.

I enjoyed my stay there very much and only wish I'd been closer to Istanbul as apparently it's absolutely amazing.

9 comments:

FIss your trip looked beautiful. I hope you don't mind me mentioning I did not get that impression of Turkey from Erdogon and his security beating protestors in US. Kicking and beating them for protesting human rights in Turkey in front of US Turkish embassy as Erdogon looked on.

Hi KEthical Politics. Of course I don't mind you mentioning that. I think the Middle East and their habits, customs and approach to life is VERY different to the Wests and some of their beliefs are almost medieval. I'm guessing they would have found the protestors extremely offensive to their President as I don't think they have our Western sensibilities connected to free speech.While I was in Turkey I spoke to several people about their views on the President and it seems that the Turkish people are mostly behind him but the Kurdish are not. The Kurdish want their own territory and flag but the Turkish will never agree to this.The reason according to word on the ground is that the Turkish don't want American involvement in their oil and if they gave the Kurdish independence the Kurdish would allow this because America provide arms to them to fight Isis.That's probably a very simplified version of a very complex subject but it was repeated several times so I guess it must have some merit.I could see both sides of the argument which left me feeling that Kurdish resentments will just continue indefinitely because it's very unlikely their very justified grievances will ever be recognised because of the feared economic losses.There are concerns that the President wants to get rid of the parliament and just runs things himself which is of course is a dictatorship but again the opinions seem very divided on whether this would be a good or bad thing.I guess it's like most countries in that it seems half the country is always left unhappy in whoever runs the show.Politics aside it's a beautiful country and the people I met were so warm and friendly it seemed impossible to imagine how closely involved they are to all the Middle Eastern wars and strife. One thing I did notice though was the huge absence of females. It seems they are tucked away in their houses rearing children and theirfamilies are HUGE. When I commented to one man that his Mother must be worn out looking after his seven brothers and sisters, he seemed surprised at both my sympathy but also the fact that I thought eight children was a lot. He replied that his family was small in comparison to most as they usually average about 14! Much as I loved the country, being a female I definitely would not want to live there!

I've just looked and yes there are! May have seek them out as a couple have very good reviews. Mind you I don't often venture into the city these days as parking is difficult and if you want a drink with your meal it's an extra £20 on taxi fares.